Alvarez Irate At 60 Minutes Interview

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 14, 2012 8:45PM

Photo Via Anita Alvarez's Facebook page.

Days after Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez looked like she was over her head in a 60 Minutes expose on false confessions in Chicago, Alvarez accused producers of the CBS news program of being "one-sided and extremely misleading" and promised to tell her office’s side of the story.

In a letter addressed to CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, Alvarez accused reporter Byron Pitts and producers of using conveniently selected clips from the interview conducted six months ago and called the segment “Chicago: The False Confession Capital” “an offensive display” intended to misrepresent her record and make it seem as though she was defending her office’s actions. One disturbing portion of the interview involved her defense of the 1991 Dixmoor Five case, where five men were convicted as teens in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. Alvarez suggested one possibility DNA evidence connected a serial rapist to the crime was necrophilia and said it was possible the Dixmoor Five were still guilty.

Cook County leads the nation in wrongful convictions and in arrests of teenage boys. The 60 Minutes report revealed federal authorities are investigating the Chicago Police Department’s handling of cases that were overturned based on false confessions. Alvarez said the report whitewashed her empaneling a task force to look into the volume of wrongful convictions in Cook County but, if it’s anything like the supposed grand jury she empaneled to investigate the handling of the investigation of David Koschman’s death, maybe she should leave it to the feds. The combination of the 60 Minutes expose and the indictment of Richard “RJ” Vanecko in connection with Koschman’s death have tarnished what was a political career fast-tracked to a judicial appointment.